...at what point does P find out that he can't fasten a ski rack on a
convertible... ;-}
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Francis McCabe [mailto:fgm@fla.fujitsu.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, July 17, 2002 2:59 PM
> To: www-ws-arch@w3.org
> Subject: Another REST challenge
>
>
>
> Here is a second use case, which I think also represents a
> challenge to
> REST. In this case, not so much that you could not do it is REST, but
> that REST would not appear to `speak to' the use case in a meaningful
> way (i.e., doesn't contribute much)
>
> Imagine that you have a car rental service, owned by Hurtz (H) and a
> punter (P). P wishes to rent a car from H and H wishes to
> maximize its
> opportunities.
>
> P approaches H, and says "I'd like to hire a car"
> H replies, "Where, when and which class?"
> P replies "Denver, next week and do you have a convertible?" (I.e.,
> doesn't directly reply to H's question, but responds with another
> question)
> H replies, "As it happens, we do, for $15/day extra"
> P replies "That sounds good"
> H says "We notice that you are going to denver in skiing
> season; there's
> a special on ski racks next week, are you interested?"
> P replies "Hey, sure"
> <some time later>
> P says "I've got an upgrade coupon, can I have an upgrade please?"
> H says "Mmmh, sure"
>
> The point behind this use case is that it is in H's interest
> to be able
> to offer timely deals to P in order to maximize its
> potential. However,
> it is fairly unlikely that H can predict (at design time) all the
> possible offers and even more unlikely that P can be built to ask for
> ski packages, even though there IS a possibility that P could
> make use
> of such an offer.
>
> In addition, P doesn't wish to trawl through H's list of car
> specifications, instead it wishes to send a constraint or query to H
> that encapsulates its preferences.
>
> The benefit of this scenario should be obvious, even scary. From a
> business POV, it makes it easier for suppliers to maximize
> their profits
> by making timely localized business choices that do not require
> everybody (from the W3C on down) to agree beforehand on the range of
> choices. From a customer's POV it makes it easier to integrate
> customer's preferences in transactions.
>
> Frank McCabe
>